


Happy Birthday, New Home

by yorkisms



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption (sort of), Asgore is a lot weird about the concept of murder, Father-Daughter Relationship, Found Family, Gen, I fear I'm not making sense, Undyne is 12 in this, Undyne is a child who doesn't get it, all dad asgore and baby undyne is good dad asgore and baby undyne, back at it again with the father Asgore, can function as a prequel to my other dadsgore piece but stands alone, extremely bittersweet, i feel like i didn't do the inspiration justice but the world needs more dad asgore, is there a word for things that are like songfics but like short stories, oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5786107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yorkisms/pseuds/yorkisms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of the blue, Undyne announces it's her birthday.</p>
<p>Asgore decides they should take a day off and celebrate. </p>
<p>War doesn't take days off. </p>
<p>(Or: Asgore wonders if it's unconscionable to train a twelve year old to fight, seeing as he knows better than anyone where violence can lead. And that Undyne is headed straight for it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, New Home

**Author's Note:**

> Time for the unadulterated idolatry: this piece, plotwise and stylistically, was inspired shamelessly by Happy Birthday, 1951. 
> 
> Kurt Vonnegut is rolling in his grave.
> 
> I'm not good at writing homages.
> 
> But I've never been one to let my own writing get in the way of some good Dad Asgore! So here it is!

She was thrust into his life as though by providence.

Well. Undyne tended to push herself, so there was no doubting that she didn't have a heavy hand in the circumstances of her eleven-year-old encounter with Asgore Dreemurr. But there were other forces at work.

Asgore liked to think that Undyne came along at an important time. Little more than a year had passed since- well.

Let's say that New Home was empty when Undyne came to fill it.

Asgore still remembers- she was twelve, well, she had just turned twelve. In the morning she came to him, he offered her some of his breakfast tea, and she accepted. She managed to chug the hot leaf water in a manner that made Asgore wince involuntarily.

"It's my birthday today."

"Is it?" Asgore asked, mouth twitching. The few months- maybe six or seven- that he had spent with Undyne were happier than ever before. He almost felt as if he owed her something for it.

"Did you want to do something special?"

Undyne started at the suggestion.

"Something special?"

Asgore tried to avoid giving Undyne a look of pity- he learned early on that she hated that.

"Have you ever done something special for that?"

Undyne shook her head, and Asgore resisted the temptation to feel bad for her and ruffled her hair instead.

"Well, we can start now. Come on, we're not training today."

"We're not?"

"It's your birthday, isn't it? We're doing something special instead."

Asgore made a mental note to pick up some groceries later to make Undyne a special dinner and possibly a cake, if he had the energy.

He took her to the echo flower fields- Asriel had always liked it there, and he had particularly enjoyed looking at the stars.

Perhaps Asgore was projecting, but Undyne thought it was beautiful anyway.

She fought her way through the echo flowers, which whispered as she passed, and Asgore simply watched as she ran around.

He knew that Undyne had had a life on the difficult side, but he still wasn't sure about the idea of training her to fight. Asgore had seen real fighting, he was absolutely sure that he didn't want to go there again if absolutely necessary- of course, it was becoming apparent that for some time it would be.  
Undyne stopped by him, and Asgore looked to her.

"May I ask how your studies have been?"

"I thought we were supposed to be having fun today," Undyne complained.

"Humor me."

Undyne walked until she stood across from him.

"It's good, I guess. I've just been reading all'f your books."

"Which ones?"

"I read some about the surface an' the war, and then I read one about the history of the royal guard."

Asgore wanted to cringe, but also didn't want Undyne getting the wrong idea.

"Is that your-" Asgore made a gesture with his hands. "Area of interest?"

Undyne nodded. "I wanna join the royal guard, I think. And I wanna help you beat the humans."

At that, Asgore definitely can't help himself from cringing. Only a bit. Undyne frowns.

"What's wrong?"

Asgore paused. "You're very young, child, I don't want you just to think of this as your only path. It is a very difficult one. Now come with me, I want to show you something else."

Before Undyne could even ask what he meant, he began to lead her away, and she ran after him.

Some five minutes later they were looking up at the stars, both lying prone on the grassy floor.

"Is this what stars look like?" Undyne asked, hushed, and Asgore nodded.

"Something like this, yes."

Undyne stared intently at the stars, trying to imagine what daytime, dawn, dusk, and night looked like.

She tried to sit up, but Asgore stopped her with one hand.

"Please relax a while, child. Someday you will value this."

Someday she would, but right now she was an impatient child. She listened anyway, looking up at the ceiling of the caverns.

Eventually, they both dozed off, Asgore deeper so than Undyne.

When Asgore woke, Undyne was gone. He couldn't help himself but worry, despite the fact that Undyne was a native of Waterfall, and knew the caves like the back of her hand.

He passed back through the caves until he found Undyne in the center of a cluster of echo flowers, crouching. When he stood over her, she jumped, hanging on to his shoulders.

"Gotcha!"

Asgore let out a huff on impact, and let Undyne scramble up onto his shoulders.

"Someday I'm gonna get a human like that. And it's gonna look so cool."

Stay a child, Asgore thought. It's way easier than killing a human.

Undyne didn't know that yet, of course, and Asgore wasn't sure that now was the time to tell her.

(He couldn't possibly have foreseen it, but-  
she'd know it someday.)

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comment, bookmark if you liked! It helps my fragile writer self-esteem.


End file.
